A couple lives in North Korea and are congregants of a church, even though religion is forbidden in their country. When their association with the church is discovered they are shipped off to a labor camp. The wife dies but the husband Chul-soo manages to survive and carries the guilt of her death with him. In order to keep a promise he made to his wife, Chul-soo returns to his hometown after two years and then decides to join a group of his fellow churchgoers and defects to the South.

Starring as Chul-soo is KIM In-kwon, a reliable supporting comic actor who made the move to leading man in 2010’s He’s on Duty and has subsequently starred in Almost Che (2012) and last year’s Born to Sing. Apostle is directed by KIM Jin-moo, who previously made the films Fish on Land (2007) and The Holiday (2010). The film follows a wave of recent social dramas focusing on North Korean defectors, such as The Journals of Musan (2010) and Dance Town (2011).